This invention relates generally to machines for gathering articles and, more particularly, to a motorized apparatus for sweeping a lawn of debris such as grass and leaves into a container either directly or through a shredder or mulcher.
A lawn that is moderately or heavily covered in leaves may require raking and then bagging the debris. This is typically done by an individual using a hand rake and then slowly depositing pile after pile into bags for collection. Even if a lawn full of leaves is mowed first with a lawn mower, large portions of leaves are not sufficiently “mulched” and remain to be collected. In this case, grass, twigs, and other debris may need to be raked and collected.
Various devices have been proposed in the art for sweeping and gathering debris from a ground surface for deposit into a bag or other receptacle. Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices have primarily been large commercial devices that must be towed behind a motorized vehicle or are not entirely effective at efficiently collecting debris that includes dirt particles that need to be separated from leafy or grassy material Further, the existing devices and proposals have not included a wheeled vehicle that, using a conveyor, operates a conveyor and shredder as a result of wheeled movement.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a leaf gathering apparatus particularly configured to gather leaves and similar organic debris into a bag receptacle by sweeping it onto a conveyor operated by movement of its wheels. Further, it would be desirable to have a leaf gathering apparatus configured to shred gathered material before depositing it into the receptacle. In addition, it would be desirable to have a leaf gathering apparatus that may be motorized and have user controls for selective activation by a user. The leaf gathering apparatus according to the present invention provides picking up and bagging leaves in only one step unlike any device on the market today.